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Psalm 22:23-31

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, adapted using Wilda C. Gafney translation

To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

23 You who fear the Lord, praise her!    All you offspring of Leah and Jacob, Rachel and Jacob, Bilhah and Jacob, and Zilpah

and Jacob, glorify her; stand in awe of her, all you offspring of Rebekah and Isaac’s line!

24 For she did not despise or abhor    

the affliction of the afflicted;she did not hide her face from me    

but heard when I cried to her.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;    

my vows I will pay before those who revere her.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;    

those who seek her shall praise the Lord, the Mother of all.    

May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember    

and turn to the Lord, the wellspring of life;and all the families of the nations    

shall worship before her.

28 For sovereignty belongs to the Lord,    

and she rules over the nations.

29 To her, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;    

before her shall bow all who go down to the dust,    

and I shall live for her.

30 Posterity will serve her;    

future generations will be told about our God,

31 and proclaim her deliverance to a people yet unborn,    

saying that she has done it.

1 Corinthians 4:8-13

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, adapted using Wilda C. Gafney translation

The Ministry of the Apostles

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! With us you all have begun to rule like royals! And I wish that you all had become royal rulers, so that we might reign with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to humans. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible people in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are unclothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

It is an honor for myself, and for the members of the Union Congregational Church of Hancock to be sharing in this very special occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Hancock Point Chapel. 

We value the ways that our two worshiping communities have come together as one throughout the years, having done so with some regularity since the late 1960’s. 

Please pray with me… May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Who remembers these song lyrics made popular by country music legend Buck Owens? 

“I was looking back to see if you were looking back to see

If I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me.” 

This morning we are looking back to see the ancestors of this chapel. I wonder who, if anyone, will be looking back to see this generation of chapel stewards? And through what lens?

How did we happen upon the lens of these two scripture passages today? I am not using the Revised Common Lectionary this church year, but an alternative selection of scriptures offered by theologian Wilda C. Gafney, that bring our female ancestors of the Bible more clearly into view. 

I immediately found a common thread between our scriptures for today and the written histories of the chapel. When I came to this community almost five years ago, Sandy Phippen gifted me with the two volume history of, “The Sun Never Sets on Hancock Point” and this week Billy O’Meara pointed me to the two pamphlets at the back of your sanctuary, “A Brief History: Hancock Point Chapel” by Gertrude Slaughter, published in 1937 and “A Continuing History: Hancock Point Chapel” by Daphne Crocker, created in 1999 for the 100 year anniversary of this chapel. 

What is the common thread? The women at the heart of our faith communities. 

In Psalm 22 we are introduced to the four women who conceived with Jacob his thirteen children, twelve of whom were to become known as the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. Two of those women, Rachel and Leah, are lionized in history as the matriarchs of our Jewish ancestors. Rachel was mother to Joseph and Benjamin. Leah was mother to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah (Jacob’s only daughter). Our two lesser known ancestors are Bilhah and Zilpah. As the handmaids of Rachel and Leah they were wrongly treated as property. Bilhah was mother to Dan and Naphtali and Zilpah was mother to Gad and Asher.

The Hancock Point Chapel was first conceived by three area women, as documented in the aforementioned written histories. 

These histories of Hancock Point honor the women who had the vision, the dream, and the drive to make this chapel a reality. The concept of the chapel was born in 1896 from a collaboration between those who founded the Sunday School, namely, “Mrs. Chester, the wife of the Lighthouse Keeper, who, with a large family of children, lived winter and summer in the house now remodeled and known as the Cluverius Cottage, and Mrs. McFarland, a widow who lived with her little girl in the house opposite the hotel.” (A Brief History, pp. 1&2) These two faithful women gave Mrs. Emery the inspiration to conceive of the chapel.

The men of Hancock Point helped also. “It is recorded that, in the summer of 1897, nine persons signed a petition to the Justice of the Peace for a charter permitting the incorporation of a society ‘for the purpose of erecting a chapel or place of worship.’” (A Brief History, p.4) “The articles of incorporation declared that the purpose of the Society was ‘the erection, furnishing, and maintenance of a building suitable for and to be mainly used for undenominational religious services.” (A Brief History, p.4)

In 1899 the chapel became a reality, thanks to the varied contributions of many, many summer and year-round Hancock residents. 

Our second reading, from the letter of Paul to the people of Corinth, may seem a bit off-putting. His writing is often blunt and to the point. In this letter Paul is offering corrections to the fledgling community where he had planted a church. His student Apollos has remained in Corinth to continue to teach the ways of Jesus. Paul had likely received word that they were straying from this teaching or fighting among themselves about who was right or wrong in their daily approach to living in community. 

Paul was reminding those following the Way of Jesus in Corinth that there were no short cuts to Christ. He was speaking to those who had all they wanted, that felt they had enough. My first thought went to money, then status, then power. Maybe yours did too. That is not what Paul is talking about. The people at the church in Corinth had all they wanted of God. They thought they could be sensible, reserved, restrained in this regard. Paul reminds them that they must be fools for the love of Christ. Paul felt that many were satisfied with just enough faith to feel righteous but not so much that it hurt or felt like sacrifice.

How much is enough? We know Paul’s answer. He was martyred rather than compromise his beliefs. 

In this passage Paul is holding a mirror up to our lives. Like a skilled debater, he agrees with the people of Corinth, but then pivots to a greater truth. Paul knows that they are not grounded in God and humility, but are leading from a place of privilege for the privileged. 

Paul’s vision is for an equal playing field where all rule together for the sake of all, where those with resources rule with neutrality and with compassion for those with fewer or no resources. 

The apostles were doing their best to give 100% to God and suffering for it. Those “wise in Christ” were limiting their commitment to God, holding back for the sake of earthly wealth and power and comfort. 

When it comes to earthly riches some have more than they need. When it comes to God most of us tend to strive for less than we need. Saying yes to God means more is required of us. We have all we want, thank you very much. We may not ever think we have enough money or power but we definitely think we have enough of what God requires of us. Paul is trying to correct this by encouraging the sensible people of Corinth to humbly place their trust in God. 

In this first letter to the Corinthians Paul is addressing the spiritual formation of this community, encouraging unity, and tolerance, and love. Paul speaks of God’s servants working together, as gardeners. Paul planted the church, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth. (1 Cor 3:6) 

At Hancock Point the chapel was planted, and watered, and it has grown. 

How will it continue to grow? What does the future of the chapel look like? How will you hold onto your past and forge your future? 

I urge us all to be good ancestors. Be good stewards of Hancock Point and all of Creation by being good ancestors. With water. With land. With living things that fly. With living things that swim. With living things that walk. With your neighbors. With your thoughts. With your words. With your feelings. With yourself.  (“Be A Good Ancestor,” Leona and Gabrielle Prince)

Raise the bar. Learn the histories of the people that lived here before colonization. Learn how our ancestors interacted with those that were here first. Teach all of the history. Look to create a future rich with unity, tolerance and love while honoring the past. 

To quote Daphne Crocker, “The Chapel is the people who have been an intrinsic part of its history, are presently honoring it, and who will frequent it in the future. It is the sum of the many sermons that have been preached from its pulpit, the hymns that have been sung, collections that have been gathered by generations of children, wedding gowns that have swept down its aisles, tears that have been shed for community members who have left this world, chamber and vocal music concerts that have been performed, arguments over cutting down trees and creating parking spaces, and bell ringing, both as ritual on Sunday mornings, as a fire alarm in earlier years, and as part of the occasional juvenile prank. Because Hancock Point is such a closely knit community, one might say that the Chapel, the Library, the Post Office, the wharf, and the tennis courts make up the heart of the community, but the Chapel is its heartbeat.” (A Continuing History: Hancock Point Chapel, pp. 1-2) 

Circling back to Psalm 22, I remind us that hope and praise are elemental to our existence.

May this chapel remain the heartbeat of Hancock Point for generations to come, continuing to offer, in the words of Mrs. Emery’s daughter, Mrs. Allinson, “a welcome to all who, regardless of creeds, seek authentic tidings of invisible things.” (The Sun Never Sets on Hancock Point, Vol. 1, p. 126)

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – Union Congregational Church of Hancock – July 28, 2024